Belgium: investigations continue into gang rape of 14 year old girl by 12 boys

The Daily Mail has details translated from the original Dutch and Flemish of the Belgian and Netherlands press. The Brussels Times had a report last week in English

A teenage suspect who allegedly took part in a gang-rape of a 14-year-old girl said the victim looked like she was in pain and ‘grimaced’ during the attack, local media reports.

Prosecutors say the girl was abused by a group of 12 boys on three occasions between April 2 and April 6 over the Easter holidays as horrifying new details continue to emerge about the case that has shocked Belgium.

Interrogations of the suspects have revealed that the girl shouted ‘stop’ when the teenage boys assaulted her, with one 14-year-old suspect saying that she ‘grimaced’ and that he ‘saw she was in pain’, according to local outlet HLN.

The girl also appeared dizzy during the attack, turned pale and her eyelids seemed to close, according to statements.

The main suspect – the girl’s 14-year-old boyfriend – allegedly took the girl with him to a wooded area called Kabouterbos in Kortrijk, West Flanders, Belgium, around 6pm on April 2 after they spent the day at a fairground.

Once there, the boyfriend is said to have raped his young partner in front of the others before he ‘loaned her out’ to his friends to sexually assault her as well while the youngest of the boys, an 11-year-old, was used as a lookout, reports claim.

Prosecutors arrested ten suspects aged between 11 and 16 – all reported by local outlets to be boys of North African or Somali descent – and hauled them in for interrogation, but new reports say up to a dozen boys were involved in the attack.

Citing ‘well placed sources’, Belgian outlet Nieuwsblad described the boyfriend as a ‘loverboy boy’ type who deliberately allowed his friends to abuse his young partner.

‘Lover boy’ in this case is a term used to describe human traffickers who typically operate by trying to make their young victims fall in love with them.

But the boy denies that he ‘lent out’ his girlfriend to the other teenagers, and his lawyer said that ‘further research is needed to clarify the facts’.

Nieuwsblad said prosecutors turned up ‘reprehensible behaviour’ on the part of the suspects and ‘revenge-mongering facts’, citing the sources close to the investigation who said the alleged perpetrators showed ‘a complete lack of sense of norms’.

The footage and images of the alleged attack were also shared on social media, reportedly over Snapchat – an instant messaging app that allows users to easily share pictures and videos. None of the group urged their friends to stop the abuse, sources said.

The investigation has been conducted in the utmost secrecy by the West Flanders prosecutor’s office to avoid any chance of family members of the victim or members of the public learning the identities of those involved. Although the alleged attack took place in early April, the girl didn’t come forward for several days out of fear of telling her parents and the police. It wasn’t until April 25 that the police were able to arrest the suspects.

In total, ten boys were detained. Six of the suspects were placed in a closed institution, while the other four were placed under house arrest.

Some ten suspects have been arrested, all minors, of whom the youngest is aged 11. “Because the perpetrators are so young, we are not releasing much information about their identity,” said Tom Janssens of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. However, he did confirm that all suspects have been identified and arrested. They have been placed under the supervision of a juvenile judge,

According to the boyfriend’s lawyer, her client has disputed the events as they have been reported. ‘My client also wants the truth to come to light and for the matter to be thoroughly investigated,’ lawyer Nur Demirtas told local media. ‘He understands that he is now locked up, but this is also traumatising for him. This is also very difficult for his parents, wealthy people who have tried to give their son a good upbringing. ..”

Lawyer Kelly De Caluwé, who is defending a 16-year-old suspect of Somali origin, said the minors had ‘all been interrogated simultaneously and the investigators will now test the statements to find out the truth’.

‘These are horrible facts,’ she said. ‘The question is how it is possible that these children have lost all sense of norms. What should we do with this?’ Caluwé said her client said things he did not mean during the questioning and has asked for a re-examination.

‘I asked for a re-examination because due to the language barrier he said things that did not match what he meant,’ she said, according to Nieuwsblad. ‘To me he is not a rapist. Although he realises that something very wrong has happened. That realisation comes gradually.’

There will be a hearing in juvenile court on May 24, which will determine what happens to the underage suspects.